I also welcome the delegation to the Visitors Gallery and hope they will have time during their stay to visit County Kerry, the nicest part of Ireland. I would love them to visit.

I refer to the Central Bank's announcement earlier regarding new mortgages. I agree with the proposal to ensure mortgages are no more than 3.5 times the earnings of the applicant. As Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell said, all of us were restricted to 2.5 times our earnings when we went to buy our family homes. Unlike Senator Terry Brennan, I have a problem with the requirement for a 20% deposit, in particular for young couples who rent private accommodation prior to purchasing a home. They are not in a position to come up with, say, a €50,000 deposit for a €250,000 house because they have spent their money on rent. That should be taken into consideration in lieu of a deposit for people who have spent years renting private accommodation.

We do not want to go back to the era of reckless lending by the banks, giving people loans they could not reasonably or realistically pay back. However, we need to keep in mind young couples wanting to buy their first family home. Incentives which were in place such as the first-time buyer’s grant should be brought back to encourage young couples to buy and build modest sized family homes, not the mansions that sprung up across the country during the Celtic tiger. I wait with interest to see if the forthcoming budget will have some incentive which will give some help to young couples to start a family home. If not, will the Leader organise a debate on the issue at the earliest opportunity?